McCormick Finishes 2011 With Strong Fourth Quarter

Posted: January 26, 2012

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McCormick’s consumer business sales rose 13% from the fourth quarter of 2010. In local currency, sales grew 12% due to favorable pricing, and favorable volume and product mix, which includes the impact of acquisitions. In the Americas, consumer sales rose 7% due primarily to pricing. During the fourth quarter, the company also took pricing actions in this region to offset the impact of material cost increases. Sales from Kitchen Basics, acquired in July 2011, added 3% to volume and product mix, along with a 1% increase from sales of new products and from the impact of incremental brand marketing support. These increases in volume and product mix were offset by the unfavorable impact of customer purchases in advance of pricing actions that caused sales to shift between quarters and lowered volume and product mix by 4% in the fourth quarter. Also, sales of certain items were affected by the impact of higher prices this period. Meanwhile, consumer sales in EMEA increased 36% and in local currency rose 32%. Favorable volume and product mix was the primary driver of this increase with sales from Kamis adding 26% to fourth quarter sales growth. While McCormick continues to face a challenging environment in this region, it was able to selectively raise prices, which added 6% to fourth quarter sales. As to the Asia/Pacific region, fourth quarter sales rose 36% and in local currency grew 29%. Favorable volume and product mix was the primary driver of this increase with sales from Kohinoor, a majority-owned joint venture, adding 33% to sales growth. In the fourth quarter, pricing actions added 4% to sales in the Asia/Pacific region.